The top ten
Goodbye, 2021. Welcome, 2022. The year in review.
Goodbye, 2021!
Dear Readers,
The year began with the sacking of the US Capitol and ended with Vladimir Putin issuing ultimatums to NATO. In between, Myanmar’s democratically-elected government was toppled in a putsch; China swallowed Hong Kong whole; Iran held a show election that elevated a murderous psychopath to the presidency; the Taliban conquered Afghanistan; a container ship, stuck in the Suez Canal, caused shipping delays around the world; the Haitian president was assassinated; the Tunisian experiment in democracy failed; a savage civil war consumed Ethiopia; and 3.5 million people died of Covid19.
But the bad news was not entirely unrelieved. That we developed one—let alone many!—effective vaccines within a year of sequencing the novel coronavirus was miraculous. The development of mRNA vaccines will surely prove to be one of the most consequential breakthroughs in the history of medicine. Now that the technology is established, we’ll be able to develop safe and effective vaccines for many infectious diseases, including the pandemics of the future. What’s more, mRNA therapy may well cure any number of cancers. The WHO also approved the first malaria vaccine, and since malaria kills nearly 650,000 people every year—more than half of them children under five—this too is a tremendous breakthrough.
And of course: The Cosmopolitan Globalist website was launched.
Thank you for joining us on the ride through 2021. We’re optimistic that 2022 might be better because—you know, it just might be. You never know.
With our very warmest wishes,
The Cosmopolitan Globalists
The year in review
Below—according to your votes and our site traffic—are the ten Cosmopolitan Globalist articles that best characterized the year.
1. PUTIN’S WAR OF SMOKE AND MIRRORS, by Nicolas Tenzer
The December 7, 2021, video chat between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin was the latest act in the grating charade that has for too long characterized the relationship between Western powers and the Kremlin leader. Each time the drama plays out in the same predictable way. It would be burlesque but for the destroyed souls in the background. Each time, the Western side makes characteristic gesticulations and threats. In the end, every time, they do nothing. For more than 21 years.
2. LAB LEAKS AND THE GREAT FILTER, by Claire Berlinski
At the dawn of the atomic era, H. Sapiens acquired a terrifying ability: It now had the power to make its own species go extinct. But there is a small, saving grace to the Bomb: It’s very difficult to build. Until now, only a small number of people have possessed the ability to end human civilization. Biotechnology, however, will soon give this power to tens of thousands—perhaps millions. It is a statistical likelihood that one of them will be irresponsible or insane.
3. DOWN WITH THE SUN, by Robert Zubrin
When politicians speak of raising the cost of energy by, for example, levying carbon taxes, keep in mind that the people most severely penalized when the cost of energy rises are not the citizens of wealthy countries, but the poorest people in the world. If ending poverty does not weigh on your mind as a high moral priority, it is either because you don’t truly understand the suffering and indignity it represents or because you are morally insensate. This means you must support nuclear power. It is the only proven, reliable, and scalable source of non-carbon energy on earth.
4. FRENCH TOAST, by David Berlinski
Éric Zemmour is a French political journalist by profession, a long-standing contributor to Le Figaro; and if he is known at all in the United States, he is known chiefly for being well-known in France. In France, he is known for being rather like Donald Trump—striking evidence that neither country understands the other. The resemblance, if it exists at all, is sentimental. Zemmour is as lean as Trump is fat, vulpine in aspect, so much so that were he to be seen exiting a chicken coop, no one would be surprised.
5. A RAUKUS IN THE PACIFIC, by Robin Häggblom
… I didn’t expect the French to be happy about the announcement, but the official reaction has been absolutely, positively furious. Some have suggested that France is overreacting to a major deal lost and this is largely theater for domestic political consumption. But people with insight into the inner workings of French politics seem to take France at its word, and in my opinion the notion that the French are unhappy because of a failed project is a significant oversimplification.
6. BIDEN BETRAYS AFGHANISTAN, by Michael Fumento
… It didn’t have to be this way. Just a few months ago only 90 out of 398 districts were under firm Taliban rule, mostly where people actually hold Taliban beliefs. It all changed when US President Joseph Biden decided it was time to end “America’s longest war” and stop losing more American servicemen, devil be damned. But with the devil in control, suddenly that doesn’t seem like such a good idea anymore.
7. THE ANTI-VAX ANGELS OF DEATH, by Claire Berlinski
A small handful of activists have used the Internet to persuade a very significant proportion of the public the world around—roughly one in every five people—that contrary to overwhelming evidence, vaccines are not the safest, most effective, and most consequential invention in medical history, but rather a sinister and dangerous menace that should be eschewed. It is an achievement on a par with persuading people to mix their drinking water with their sewage.
8. LONG LIVE THE SUN, by Casey Handmer
Despite the safety and technical maturity of nuclear power, solar power has prevailed. Because it is simple. What does energy look like in 2040? Post-scarcity, almost too cheap to meter. Containerized batteries and solar panels proliferate. Clean air. Cheap, fast air transport. Quick, quiet, and largely automated surface vehicles. Continuing economic growth. Long live the sun, let the darkness disappear!
9. FINISH OFF COVID. HURRY. By Owen Lewis
The pandemic is the most urgent issue confronting humanity. Vaccine nationalism is scientifically insane on the face of it: So long as the virus is allowed to mutate—anywhere—it remains a threat to everyone. Delays in rolling out the vaccine—anywhere—are unforgivable. Thus, the Cosmopolitan Globalist presents a blueprint for vaccinating the world. We show that it is feasible and far less costly than failure.
10. FORGET IT, JAKE. IT’S CHINA’S TOWN, by Vivek Kelkar
China is putting its cards on the table now, transparently. It’s the pivot of the Pacific in trade, technology and, most vitally, information networks. It sees neither India nor Japan as impediments. Xi has presented Biden with a fait accompli: China is now the region’s hegemon.
And that’s the year that perished, folks. It’s mostly a year best forgotten, but it sure did have a few good moments, didn’t it?
Please join us tomorrow as we look forward to 2022.
Happy New Year!